1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to attachments for the boom structure and hydraulic system for a hydraulic excavator or the like, and in particular to such attachments that are used for handling railroad rails.
2. Background
Many miles of railroad tracks are scrapped each year as the result of removal of obsolete lines or as the result of replacement of worn track. The old track rails can then be reprocessed for their scrap value. Essentially, the long rail sections must be broken into smaller pieces so that they can be more easily handled and shipped to a processing center where they can be melted down and reused. The rails can be segmented as they are removed from the track bed, or the long sections thereof can be transported to a scrap yard where they can be broken down.
As seen in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,323 issued June 11, 1985, there is disclosed a rail breaking machine that can be used either to break the rail as it is being removed from the track bed, or can be used as a piece of stationary equipment to break long sections of rails in a scrap yard. In the former case, the rails are automatically fed into the rail breaking device in the proper orientation, namely, as the rail normally sits on the rail bed with the flange portion down and the ball portion up. However, in the latter case, as the rails are often lying in a variety of random positions in a scrap yard, they must first be oriented into the proper upright position before being fed into the rail splitting machine. The weight of the long rail sections requires that they be lifted by a suitable piece of heavy equipment such as a backhoe, having a grapple attached to the boom thereof. However, prior art grapples cannot provide the degree of control that is needed to easily manipulate the rail into the position necessary for the proper operation of the machine. Thus, a great deal of time and energy can be spent in orienting the rail, thereby greatly reducing the profitability of reprocessing steel rails.
3. Summary of the Invention
An object of the present invention is to provide a grapple that can easily and efficiently orient track rails into a desired position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a rail orienting grapple that is portable through attachment to the boom structure and hydraulic system of a hydraulic excavating machine such as a backhoe.
A feature of the present invention is a grapple with cooperating front and back tines, the front tine being arcuate in shape, and pivotally secured to a lower portion of the frame and depending therefrom to a tip end. On the working side of the front tine is a knob projecting slightly toward the back tine.
Another feature of the present invention is a rigid frame incorporating a rotary mounting. The rotary mounting provides for rotation of the frame, about a central axis thereof, through an arc of 360.degree.. The rotary mounting includes attachment means integral therewith for providing releasable securing of the frame to the boom structure and hydraulic system of the excavator.
The front and rear tines each include gear teeth integral with each of the ends thereof that are secured to the frame. The gear teeth of the tines are enmeshed so that the tines, when operated by each respective hydraulic cylinder, swing with respect to each other in a coincidental manner.
The present invention operates to pick up railroad rail and orient them into upright position so that they may be properly fed into a stationary rail breaking machine. Such operation can be best understood in the typical situation wherein a rail is lying upon its side in a horizontal position with a portion of the ball and flange thereof contacting the ground. The rotary mounting can be used, if needed, to orient the frame so that the front tine, and thus the knob thereof, confronts the ball or head of the rail, and the back tine therefore confronts the flange end of the rail.
Operation of the hydraulic cylinders attached to the tines causes them to close together and interleave. In so doing, the rail will be picked up between the tines in a manner wherein the flange portion of the rail will be oriented such that the bottom surface thereof will be substantially parallel with that portion of the concave outer surface of the back tine that it is in contact with. If the tines are then allowed to open slowly, the flange portion of the rail will slide, by the force of gravity, along the exterior convex surface of the back tine such that the lower end of the flange will be the first portion of the rail to protrude between the ends of the tines as they begin to separate. The ball or head of the rail will then be caught or held by the knob portion of the front tine. As a result thereof, if the rail is positioned just above the ground, the flange will first contact the ground, thus, as the ball of the rail is held by the knob of the front tine, the rail can then be urged into an upright position with the flange contacting the ground, by suitable operation of the tines and/or the boom of the excavator.
In the event the bottom flange of the rail confronts the front tine and the knob when the rail is initially being picked up, the rail may be turned over by simply closing the tines under the rail, whereupon the rail will be tipped upward so that the ball or head depends from the bottom flange. Then the grapple tines may be opened slightly, whereupon the knob on the front tine will catch the flange of the rail as the rail is being lowered due to the opening of the tines. The continued opening of the grapple will cause the rail to be laid upon the ground with the head or ball disposed adjacent the front tine and the bottom flange disposed adjacent the back tine. After the rail has been reoriented in this way, the rail may be picked up again and reoriented as described above.
The rail as it sits in this horizontal upright position on the ground can then be easily grasped, along the web portion thereof between the knob and flange by the tines, and lifted, and then fed into the stationary rail breaking machine.
It can be appreciated that the enmeshed gear teeth of the tines, in cooperation with the hydraulic cylinders, serve to prevent any undesired movement of the tines as the rail is being manipulated, which movement can reduce the degree of control of the rail, and which movement could result in dropping of the rail.
It is therefore a major advantage of the present invention that one of the tines includes a knob portion for cooperating with the ball portion of a rail to allow for quick and easy orienting thereof.
It is also a major advantage of the present invention that it is portable through releasable attachment to the boom structure and hydraulic system of an excavator so that it can be easily moved within a scrap yard to various locations where it may be needed, and in fact, can easily be transported from one yard to another.